How to select blocks without having to select all entities of the block

[rataylor]

How can i select blocks without having to select all of the entities of the block?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

Can you please clarify the question?

>> without having to select all entities of the block

My problem understandig this is "all entities of a block" ... if a blockdefintion is built up of 10 lines and you select the block-insertion then these 10 lines are highlighted/selected as they are "built in".

A block is a unit, you can't select just 2 lines of the block ....as long as:

• you are not in the blockeditor where you can modify the block-definition
• you have not exploded the block (if you use command _EXPLODE the block-insertion is not a unit any more, it's kind of destroyed into it's subentities).

Does that answer your question?

- alfred -

[rataylor]

ok, try this: draw CONSTRUCTION LINE, draw a circle on it, then draw another circle somewhere else on it. COPY WITH BASE POINT, then, PASTE AS BLOCK. Now try to DELETE it by selecting the CONSTUCTION LINE outside the 2 circles. Selecting between the 2 circles works fine. If you draw only one circle on the construction line and Copy and PASTE it, selection will be ignored when trying to select the CL outside the circle. Also, I have not been able to ANGULAR DIMENSION a CL. (the command line prompt states that it is not a line). Sometimes it won't let me TRIM my CL to a circle(depends upon which computer i am on, so i know it has to be a setting somewhere). I want to use CL's more but sometimes they don't work like i expect them to. Thanks.Regards, RT.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> draw CONSTRUCTION LINE, draw a circle on it, then draw another circle somewhere

>> else on it. COPY WITH BASE POINT, then, PASTE AS BLOCK.

Then I have a block inserted, consisting of a ray and 2 circles (in case you selected all three objects while command _COPYBASE

>> Now try to DELETE it by selecting the CONSTUCTION LINE outside the 2 circles

I select the block by clicking onto the ray outside the two circles ==> block-insertion gets selected. When I click onto <DEL> on the keyboard the block-insertion is erased.

All that works like I think it should work, I don't see anything unusual with that.

-------------------------------------------

The new questions:

>> I have not been able to ANGULAR DIMENSION a CL

You always have the option to select points on for angular dimension and object snaps on the ray.

>> Sometimes it won't let me TRIM my CL to a circle

What does AutoCAD tell you in that cases (what is reported in the commandline?

Generally whenever some options don't work you can verify if you have installed the latest service pack for your AutoCAD release.

- alfred -

[sthompson1021]

When you choose paste as block, that is what you get is a block. You can explode the block if you want to edit what you pasted or you can select the block and open it in block editor to edit what you want.

[rataylor]

ok, i'm glad it works for you. i don't know about service packs. that is out of my control as our IT dept. controls the software here at State U.and we get what they shoot thru the wires. I'm just glad that latest versions allow saving as earlier versions(2004 and earlier) so i can do what works. Thanks for your input. Regards, Rick.

[rataylor]

Hello, you and Alfred have both mentioned "block editor". In alfreds post he typed it with no space which indicates to me it is an actual command but to no avail. Maybe if i change how Autocad "sees"a block i can change the settings of my blocks. Thanks for your input. Regards, Rick.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

to start he blockeditor the (for me) most common way is to select a block that's definition I want to edit ==> right click then ==> use "Block Editor" from context menu.

The command to start the blockeditor is: _BEDIT

- alfred -

[sthompson1021]

There are a couple ways to get into the block editor. You can double click on the block and the select it from the popup that appears, or the actual command is BEDIT. When you create a block by the method you described, the easiest way is by double clicking on the block because the name will be at the top of the list.

[sthompson1021]

No fair, you type to fast

Spoiler

[ВeekeeCZ]

You can edit a block in-place as well - command REFEDIT (the way before BlockEditor came up)

[Kent1Cooper]

---

@rataylor wrote:

... draw CONSTRUCTION LINE, draw a circle on it, then draw another circle somewhere else on it. COPY WITH BASE POINT, then, PASTE AS BLOCK. Now try to DELETE it by selecting the CONSTUCTION LINE outside the 2 circles. Selecting between the 2 circles works fine. If you draw only one circle on the construction line and Copy and PASTE it, selection will be ignored when trying to select the CL outside the circle. ....

---

You're not crazy -- I found the same thing in testing my ReportSlope.lsp routine -- see the end of Post 1 here and the comment referred to in the code attached to Post 3 there.

In my tests, I could select a Block containing an Xline or Ray by picking on the Xline/Ray if I selected within the extents of other finite elements in the Block, and it seemed to some indeterminate distance slightly beyond those extents.  But farther outboard of that limit, I could neither select on nor Object-Snap to an Xline/Ray that was part of a Block.  That was using Acad2004 -- I haven't experimented in newer versions.  I wonder whether Alfred's successful selection [Post 4] was outside the Circles themselves but still within the area of their XY extents where I was able to select such things.  If it still works when picking farther beyond those extents, then apparently this quirk has been fixed in newer versions.

But I confess to some curiosity as to under what circumstances one would want to include an Xline or Ray in a Block.  Presumably one defines a Block in order to use it more than once, because of considerations of memory savings and so on.  I would think a drawing could get cluttered up with those parts passing through all over the place -- they display normally even if you can't pick on them just anywhere.  I only tried doing it for testing purposes with that routine, wanting to check all possible entity types, both top-level and nested in Blocks, but I can't think of a reason I would ever do such a thing in actual drafting.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I wonder whether Alfred's successful selection [Post 4] was outside the Circles

>> themselves but still within the area of their XY extents

Ahhh, that's why detailed descriptions are so great and mostly necessary (besides of drawings).

And yes, outside the extents of the 2 circles I can't select the blockreference by clicking onto the XLINE/RAY (within the block).

Thx for clarification!

- alfred -

[kasperwuyts]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, you and Alfred have both mentioned "block editor". In alfreds post he typed it with no space which indicates to me it is an actual command but to no avail. Maybe if i change how Autocad "sees"a block i can change the settings of my blocks. Thanks for your input. Regards, Rick.

---

If you don't know what the block editor is, then it seems you are in need of some basic tutorials of Autocad blocks in general, because it seems you are coming into this issue with different preconceptions of what a block is, perhaps because of different software you used in the past.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoCAD-Core/files/GUID-2DA2ADA1-C8CC-4E61-9598-06580FFD3544-htm.html

Anyway, to get into the block editor, the command is BEDIT